Method of and apparatus for severing plastic material



Feb. 15 19270 J. A. MILLIKEN METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR SEVERING PLASTIC MATERIAL Filed April 1'7,

- successively brought beneath the forehe rth Patented Feb. 15, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. MILLIKEN, OF AMBLER, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN E. MARSDEN,

OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

METNOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR SEVERING PLASTIC MATERIAL.

Application filed April 17,1923. Serial No. 632,748.

.- :h'reds or tailings.

/ proper co-operation between a the accom an in drawin wherein Anotherobject of my invention is to sim plify and mprove generally. the constructron and operation of devices of this character.

provide an improved means for effecting J glass severing device and movable molds.

An illustration of oneananner in which my invention may be employed is shown in Fig. 1 is a view, partially in section and partiallyin side elevation, of asevering de vice embodying'my invention and the man'- ner in which it is associated with a glass tank and a ,mold carrier.

Fig. 2 is a view, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of the apparatus of Flg. 1.

My invention constitutes in part a division of my application, Serial Number 690,516, filed November 13, 1922, andentitled Methods of and apparatus for blowing glass.

Still another object of my invention is to F of 'the glass furnace, to receive charges of molten glass. 10 is a funnel for directing a severed slug of glass S'into the mold 3.

The column 4 is provided with an annular bevelled tooth portion or gear 7 that meshes with a bevel gear wheel 8. The ear wheel 8' is secured to ashaf't 9 supported in a fixed bearing 11 and o era-ting through a sleeve 12 to drive a sha t 9 upon which a wide faced helical gear wheel 13 is slidably but non-rotatably supported. A hearing block 14 for the shaft-9" is supported by the frame-work 15.

The helical gear wheel13 meshes with a helical gear wheel 17 secured to a shaft 16 which is mounted in the frame 15 and the block 14. The gear wheel 13 is adfustable axially by lever-18 to serve as a timing gear to insurethecutting off ofslugs or charges of glass in desired timed relation to the movement of the molds past the stream of glass; axial adjustinent of gear 13 rotates gear 17 to advance or retard its time relation with respect to the mold carrier 4'.

The gear wheel 13 is shifted by a pivoted bell crank 18 one end of which engages the,

hub portion 13 of the wheel; The bell crank 18 is controlled by a rod 19 which is adjustable "vertically by a hand wheel or nut "19that is rotatably supported by a bracket 20 and is provided with a scale that moves past a pointer 21 for indicating the de ee of adjustment of the timing gears 131 Securedto the shaft 16 is a. cam 22 with which engages a roller 23 .that IS secured .to a block24. A rod 25 is secured to and The severing device is shown ls-mounted;

beneath the orifice *O of the forehearth F of aglass furnace within which a body of.

molten glass G is contained, a stream of molten glass Gr being shown as flowing through the orifice. A plug P serves to control the rate of flow ofglass through the orifice O.

In the form shown, the invention is designed to supply charges of molten glass to molds 3, a series of which are disposed'eoncentrically of a rotatable column 4 and supported therefrom by arms 5 and provided with pressing and blowing mechanism 6,

a such as shown in my prior application above referred to. ,It will be understood tliat as theicolur'nn is rotated, the molds 3 will be extends upwardly from the block 2&1 and is connected at its upper end to a bar 26.'

,The bar ,26' is pivotally supported by a bracket 27 that is mounted upon the fram work 15.3"

block 28 is formed in the outer is rotatably supported within the bearing block 28, being held against downward movement therethrough by means of a flange 29%v that bears upon the upper end of the blook,2 8-.

The sleeve shaft 9 has an annular gear member 30 secured o the lower end thereof, such member being held in place by'a screw collar-31. The sleeve shaft 29 is held against displacement u iwardly with respect to the bearing block 28, y the gear 30.

The sleeve 29,is of such diameter as to ing ,block 23 and is permit passage therethrough of slugs of glass S that have been severed from the stream of glass G. The flange 29 of the sleeve 29, besides serving as a thrust bearing to prevent downward movement of the sleeve 29, is formedwith brackets- 29 that have depending ears in which pivot pins 29? are supported. The upper endiof the pin 32 extends and therefore having movement radially of the sleeve 29.

Each bar 33 carries at its forward end a knife or edge plate 34 and at its ,rear end ispivotally connected to a rocker arm 35, such arms being supported on the 1pivot pins 29 and provided with gear teet 35 and with counter weights 35 the centrifugal forces of which counterbalance the centrifu:

gal forces of the up er ends of said arms and the parts carrie thereby, to avoid excessive strains by the moving parts. From the foregoing it will be understood-that the rocker arms 35 and blade members 34 arerotatable with the sleeve shaft 29 about the longitudinal axis of such sleeve.

A collar 36 loosely surrounds the bear- I rovided with annular rack teeth 36 upon its periphery and with two diametrically opposite depending ears 36 that are pivotally connected to the inner ends of the levers 26, so that as the levers 26' are. oscillated by the cam 22', the collar 36 will be reciprocated vertically. The teeth 36 of the collar 36mesh with the teeth 35 of the rocker arms 35, so that if the collar 36 'is reciprocated vertically, the arms 35 will be oscil ated about their pivots 29 and the blades 34 reciprocated 1n a substantially horiz'ontalplane.

Rotation of the sleeve 29 is v effected through .the gear 30, gear wheel 37, bevel gear wheels 38 and a chain 39 which driven by'a motor 40.

With the motor 40 constantly operating, as is normally the case, and the rod 25 and lever 26 being oscillated through move-. ment ofthe mold carrier 4, the sleeve 29 and the severing members 34 carried thereby, are rotated about the longitudinal axis of the sleeve, and the members 34 are moved inwardly 'as above explained. The simulof the sleeve.

taneous inward and rotative movements just referred to have the. effect of moving the blade members 341 through spirals which terminate adjacent d the generally accepted meanip of the word ffthe longitudinal axis The severlng action thus. gjobtained is not a 'shearlng action, within shear, but more nearly resembles what hand process wherein the operator severs the charge of glass fr m a punty or gatherering members 34 from contact with the glass G as quickly as ssible, in order to prevent undue retardation of the flow of glass and consequent iling 'of such glass upon the upper sides 0% the members 34. It

has been found that, with the stream of glass movmg at a speed of say three inches in three seconds, satisfactory results can be secured by so constructing the cam 22 that the reclprocation of the collar 36, from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the-position shown in Fig. 2 and back again to its position in Fig. 1, "will require but substantially one-half second, the members 34 being held in inoperative relation to the stream of glass during the remaining two and one-half seconds of the period required for a three-inch slug of glass to pass.

Assuming the rotation of the mold carrier 4 to be at such speed that a mold 3 will be brought into position to receive a slug of glass each three seconds, the cam member 22 must also be revolved once each three seconds, so that the cutting-off members 34 may be moved through a complete cycle each three seconds.

The foregoing periods of time are given merel as illustrative, and may of course be varied .to suit different requirements and conditions.

From the foregoing, it will ,be seen that I providemeans for accurately and smoothly might be called a spinning cutting action. Y The efi'ect secured is similar to that of the severing measured quantities from a stream of glasswithout interrupting the flow there of, and without the necessity of providing complicated mechanism for movin the severing devices with the stream of gIass while the cutting-off action is taking place. Various changesin detail and general arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims. Furthermore, the invention is not limited in its scope to'cutting streamsof molten glass, but may btla employed to divide materials other than g ass.

What I claim is: 1. The method of severing charges of glass comprising maintaining a How of molten lass from a container and causing severing evices to rotate in an orbit in one direction around and relative to the stream of glass and al' vlng 531d evering device back and within a period of time less than that re- 3. The method of severing charges of molten glass from a flowing stream thereof comprising rotating a severing device in a given direction in a spiral path relative-to said glass stream and toward the axis thereof, and withdrawing it while continuing the rotation in the same direction.

4. The method of severing measured quantities from a continuously moving stream of plastic material comprising. moving a cutting device transversely across the stream quired for a predetermined quantity of such material topass said cutting device and then retracting the cutting device and so timing the movements of the cutting device that the period of retraction plus the period required for the severing movement equals the time required for said predetermined quantity to pass, the said cutting device being continu ously rotated in an orbit in one direction around and relative to said stream, the transverse movements of the cutting device taking place during said continuous rotation.

5. A severing device for dividing a stream of molten glass into longitudinal sections comprising a rotatably supported carrier sleeve having a passage for the stream of glass, means for continuously rotating said carrier sleeve relative to said stream and in one direction, cutting means mounted on said carrier sleeve so as to. normally travel in an orbit around said stream, and means for in termittently causingv the cutting means .to operate transversely across said stream dur: ing said orbital travel. 6. A severing device for dividing a stream of molten glass into longitudinal sections comprising a rotatably supported carrier sleeve having a passage for the stream of glass, means for continuously rotating said carrier sleeve relative to said stream and in one direction, a pair of cutting members mounted on said carrier sleeve so as to travel in an orbit around said stream, and means for intermittently reciprocating said cutting members transversely across said passage during said orbital travel.

7. A severing device for dividing a stream of molten glas into longitudinal sections comprising a cutting device, means for causing said cutting device to continuously travel.

in an orbit around and relative to said stream 111 one direction, and means for mtermittently causing said cutting device to operate transversely across said stream during its travel around the same.

8. A severing device for dividing a stream of molten glass into longitudinal sections comprising two oppositely disposed cutters, means for causing said cutters to continuously travel in an orbit and relative to said stream in one direction, means for maintaining said cutters in normally separated relation, and intermittently operable means for reciprocating said cutters. at high speed and transversely of said stream during said travel.

9. The combination with a" plurality or receptacles and mechanism for positioning the same, of cutting means, means for causing said cutting means to continuously travcl in an orbit in one direction about and relative to a stream of plastic material, and means operated by said positioning mechamsm for operating the cutting means during said travel to move it transversely across .said stream.

10. The combination with a plurality of receptacles and mechanism for positioning the same, of cutting means, means for causing said cutting means to continuously travel in an orbit in one direction about and relatlve to a stream of plastic material,

means for operating the cutting means during said travel to move it transversely across said stream, an operating connection between said positioning mechanism and said cutter operating means, and means whereby said operating connection may be adjusted to obtain a desired time relation between the actuation of the cutting means and the positioning of the receptacles.

11. A severing device for dividing a stream of molten glass into longitudinal sections comprising a rotatably supported carrier having a passage for the stream of glass, means for continuously rotating said carrier in one direction relative to said stream, blade members mounted on the carrier so as toreciprocate transversely of said passage and to travel in an orbit around said stream, actuating levers for said blade .members' also mounted on said sleeve, and

means unaffected by rotation of said sleeve for imparting movements to said levers.

12. A severing device for dividing a stream of molten glass into longitudinal seerier having a passage for the stream of glass, means for continuously rotatlng said carrier relative to said stream and in one tions comprising a rotatably supported cardirection, blade members mounted on the having portions engaging said gear ring, and means for reciprocating said gear ring.

13. Severing apparatus comprising a retatable sleeve provided on its peri hery with ar teeth, a driven ear whee meshing with said teeth, an osci ating arm pivotally supported by said sleeve, 8. blade supported by said arm and disposed radially of said sleeve, gear teeth on said arm, a rack member movable axially of said sleeve and whose teeth mesh with the teeth'of said arm and means for moving said rack member axially of said sleeve.

14. The combination with a plurality of receptacles and means for moving the same past a given point, of a device actuated by said means ior severing masses from a stream of material for delivery to said receptacles and comprising a cam actuated. by said means, and a reciprocable blade member positively actuatedby said cam transversely to the stream of said material.

15. Severing apparatus comprising a retatable member, rotatable blade members movable transversely of said member, pivotally supported actuating arms for said blade members, means for oscillating said arms about their pivots to reciprocate said blade members across the to be out, and means opposm the centrifugal forces acting on said bla e members.

- 16. Severing apparatus comprising a suppath of material rting member, a vertically disposed bearlng block supported thereby, a sleeve supported within said block, means for rotating said sleeve, 9. blade member carried by said sleeve, a toothed member for imparting reciprocating movement to said blade, a collar loosely surrounding said sleeve, teeth carried by said collar in position to mesh with said first named teeth, and means for reciprocating said collar axially of said sleeve.

17. Severing apparatus comprising a rotatable sleeve, a pair of oscillatory arms pivotally supported by said sleeve, a blade supported by each of said arms and disposed radially of said sleeve, teeth on oppositely disposed surfaces of said arms. a rack member engaging said teeth, and means for simultaneously rotating said sleeve and actuating said rack member to move the said blades toward one another.

18. Apparatus for severing masses from a stream of plastic material, comprising a rotatable severing member, and a weight rotatable with said severing member and so disposedwith respect thereto as to oppose the centrifugal force acting upon said severing member.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature this 9th day of April,

JOHN A. MILLIKEN. 

